Prospects for the implementation of assessment for learning

Educational …, 2006

In the implementation of a 10-year educational reform since the turn of the century in Hong Kong, assessment has been one of the key areas of change. The importance of changing assessment practices in the process of teaching and learning has been discussed in various government documents since 1990. In the past, assessment practices were inclined to be mainly "assessment of learning" which was more summative in nature. In the reform, schools were encouraged to put more emphasis on "assessment for learning" which was considered more of a formative nature. On approaching the mid point of such reform, significant difference in its degree and scope of development can be seen in schools. In this particular paper, the focus is assessment reform in the primary school sector. The two concepts in assessment are explored by a detailed documentary analysis of assessment policies written on basic education over the last decade. Together with reviewing the current developments on assessment change in primary schools, implications for more effective use of assessment for enhancing teaching and learning are made.

Asia Pacific Education Review, 2017

Hong Kong is famous for its examination-dominated culture, which heavily relies on the public examinations. So ingrained has it become that the whole society is sensitive to any change in such an assessment mechanism. In recent years, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority has used both external and school-based assessment as part of high stakes end of schooling assessment. Recent reforms have increased this reliance on school based assessment. The objectivity of external assessment is easily accepted by the society and the addition of school-based assessment components is often supported by tertiary institutions. Yet the practice of including school-based assessment results in addition to public examinations has been challenged by practitioners such as teachers in secondary schools as well as by the public. This paper focuses on understanding the views of teachers concerning school based assessment since such views are likely to add pressure to its implementation. In particular it will examine why teachers and the public appear to have more faith in external assessment rather than the professional judgment of teachers.

Assessment, 2006

ABSTRACT2 Hong Kong is famous for its examination-dominated culture, which heavily relies on the public examinations. So ingrained has it become that the whole society is sensitive to any change in such an assessment mechanism. In recent years, the Hong Kong ...

Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 2009

Hong Kong is seeking to increase the use of "assessment for learning" rather than rely on

2006

Leong, W.S., & Tan, K. (2014). What (more) can, and should, assessment do for learning? Observations from ‘successful learning context’ in Singapore. Curriculum Journal. 25 (4), 593−619.

Singapore has earned accolades as one of the leading education systems in the world, based on its record in international assessments, including TIMSS and PISA. This has contributed to the entrenchment of ‘assessment’ becoming an institutional authority of standards, teaching (performativity) and classroom learning. It is against, and amidst such contexts, that this article traces how the notion and discourse of formative assessment and Assessment for Learning (AfL) are widely introduced and used formally across all Singaporean schools, particularly after a recent introduction of new ‘Holistic and Balanced Assessment’ policies. We argue that the very institutional authority of successful high-stake examination results, which served as critical standards of performativity of teaching and learning in the classroom, is being challenged. The changing assessment context of Singaporean schools, therefore serves as an interesting case study site for studying how formative assessment and AfL can be adapted and understood when ‘learning’ is already seen to be successful. Link: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585176.2014.970207#.VKdU6rkcRjo

Assessment for learning has been widely reported as a reform in educational assessment. The recently published OECD study provided several case study investigations of how assessment for learning is variously enacted in diverse policy and system contexts. In this paper we take up the topic of assessment for learning and draw on a recently completed large-scale study of teacher capacity-building in assessment in middle schooling (Years 4 to 9; ages 8 to 14 approx.) to explore characteristics of 'assessment as critical inquiry'. Specifically, we probe the question, How can we enact a framework of assessment as critical inquiry for improving learning outcomes? The paper proposes a conceptual framing for developing a professional mindset that places assessment at the heart of the pedagogic enterprise.

Language Assessment Quarterly, 2007

The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) has recently moved from norm-referenced to standards-referenced assessment, including the incorporation of a substantial school-based summative oral assessment component into the compulsory English language subject in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE). Starting in Form 4, teachers now assess their own students' oral English language competencies through a range of classroom-embedded activities over 2 years (SBA Consultancy Team, 2005). This high-profile assessment initiative marks a significant shift in policy as well as in practice for the HKEAA. Although school-based assessment (SBA) is in line with the Education and Manpower Bureau's general move to align assessment with curriculum reforms, in the early stage of implementation the reforms raised a number of concerns in the wider school community, including sociocultural, technical, and practical concerns. This article first describes the specific content and structure of the HKCEE English Language SBA component. It then reports on the result of the initial analysis of teachers' and students' responses to the initiative in the first stage of its implementation, including the perceived benefits for learning and teaching. The article concludes with a brief overview of how this initial analysis led to the development of a number of subsequent research studies aimed at monitoring and developing teacher knowledge and skills and evaluating more systematically the impact of the reform on teachers, students, and schools in Hong Kong.

Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 2004

The completion of the first ten years of this journal is an occasion for review and reflection. The main issues that have been addressed over the ten years are summarized in four main sections: Purposes, International Trends, Quality Concerns and Assessment for Learning. Each of these illustrates the underlying significance of the themes of principles, policy and practice, which the journal highlights in its subtitle. The many contributions to these themes that the journal has published illustrate the diversity and complex interactions of the issues. They also illustrate that, across the world, political and public pressures have had the effect of enhancing the dominance of assessment so that the decade has seen a hardening, rather than any resolution, of its many negative effects on society. A closing section looks ahead, arguing that there is a move to rethink more radically the practices and priorities of assessment if it is to respond to human needs rather than to frustrate them.